Most of the interesting things that happened this week were
in the past few days, so I’ll start with the chamber concert on Thursday night:
a piece by Debussy, a piece by Ravel, and two pieces by the keyboard player.
The most interesting thing that happened that night was in the last piece, when
the cellist suddenly stopped playing, stood up and announced that something was
wrong with his bow (I didn’t catch what it was). The piece ground to a halt and
everyone laughed, and sat in bemused silence until the cellist returned with a
different bow. We applauded, they finished the piece, and I felt that I had gotten
my money’s worth (that’s a joke, because the ticket was free).
The next night was the symphony concert, with Leila
Josefowicz playing Stravinsky concerto. This is quite possibly the COOLEST
piece ever written for the violin, and if anyone hasn’t heard it, I strongly
encourage you to look up the Oistrakh recording (20 minutes of sheer ecstasy).
Friday afternoon I also went on an expedition to find a
cache in a little art park.
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| I thought these were cacti, but apparently they represent the four seasons. I think Vivaldi did a better job. |
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| San Franciscan menhir |
Then Saturday night was a new music show at school, with
SFCM’s New Music Ensemble and a few guests. There was “Living Room Music” by
John Cage, where four players can use any household items they like to realize
rhythmic patterns. At one point they become a speech quartet. I found this
fascinating.
However, the real reason I went to the new music show was
for Dracula, a one-act opera by David del Tredici. It was awesome: the music
was tonal, accessible and extremely effective, and the soprano soloist was
spectacular. Best of all, our Western Civ professor was the off-stage narrator
and voice of Dracula himself.
Wait, maybe that wasn’t the best thing of all…..maybe the
best thing of all was that my theory professor (Jacques from Montreal) was playing
the theremin, and when I expressed my admiration for this instrument, he let me
try playing it!!! In case anyone doesn’t know, a theremin is an electric
instrument that is played completely hands-free. You move your hands back and
forth in the magnetic field, and one hand controls pitch and the other controls
volume, but you’re not actually touching any part of the instrument. It’s like
magic!! Here is a link to the thing being played by its inventor and namesake.
The weirdest and most exciting thing is how analogous it is
to the violin. You control pitch with your right hand instead of your left, but
because the frequencies are the same, the physical distances between the
pitches are the same too. So if you were to play two notes on one string, on
the violin, the physical distance between the two notes is exactly the same as
the physical distance between the same two notes on the theremin, only it’s in
the air instead of on a string.
I’ll balance out this week’s wall of text with a few candid
shots of dorm life. Brace yourselves.
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| First floor is Pokemon-themed |
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| Second floor Royal-Tea. This is my floor. Aren't I lucky? |
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| Third floor pirates. This is also the highest floor, in more ways than one. |
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| I think they try to make it cheesy on purpose. |
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| Somebody's desperate....... |
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| This, unfortunately, is my door. The board belongs to Liz, although neither of us is responsible for the dreadful content. |
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what it's like to live in a college res hall. Thank you.
- Antisocial Violinist
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